CHAPTER XX 



THE EUROPEAN SPARROW AS A NUISANCE 



ONE problem confronts every bird land- 

 lord. It is how to keep out that persis- 

 tent nuisance, the European Sparrow. 

 The farmer bird-lover is more troubled with 

 these pests than any other, for the constant 

 feeding and handling of grain will bring them 

 about, no matter how systematically he tries to 

 get rid of them. These Sparrows were more 

 troublesome here a year ago than they had 

 been for some time before. Possibly this was 

 because the sheep had been kept through the 

 winter at the barn, about which we had been 

 trying to attract the birds, and oats had been 

 fed them out in the troughs in the barnyard. 

 A certain amount of wheat had also been kept 

 at the barn. So, altogether, the Sparrows must 

 have been attracted from neighboring barns, 

 for the summer before we had reduced them to 

 only an occasional pair. 

 [179] 



M 



